topic Old Number NOT Ported - Zero help from EE in SIM cards & Porting

Old Number NOT Ported - Zero help from EE

mehere — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 15:11:03 GMT

I am disabled. Cannot speak. I was using 1 mth rolling £12 contract with Smarty/3 network but low data speed in my area. Switched to EE/BT for 5G speeds. I told Smarty I was moving. Requested a PAC. They sent it immediately. I applied for £37 pcm unlimited data 12 mth contract with EE. I filled out form to transfer my number and gave pac. So far so good. Today the EE sim arrived. No instructions in envelope about what to do to complete number transfer. Tried sim. Works but wrong number. Tried EE website. No clear instructions. Eventually found a link to a form to change my number. Filled out the form and it said it did not recognise the PAC. I went back to Smarty. They said PAC was correct. Went back to EE. Still no help. Being disabled, was pointed by EE to use BT Relay app that is meant to convert phone conversations to text. Found the app. Installed it. Tried to ring EE Technical Help. No one answered the phone. This is why Relay is a non-solution to disabled people and why we all rate the app as c**p. Meanwhile, I get an email from Smarty 'something has gone wrong with number transfer'. Checked Smarty SIM and it is still working but shows 'no number'. Tried to contact Smarty live chat but that is now turned off. Tried using EE again to get help but my browser would not load EE website pages. Every attempt says 'blocked'. Never had this happen before. Tried to get help through to this community using the new EE SIM as everything else no longer works. That was no use. Had to set up and use a spare GiffGaff sim and link it to my laptop to write this. Absolute nightmare and no help whatsoever from EE. I sent in two complaints (second to update with info from Smarty) and received a bot-generated email acknowledging only the first. Six hours later. Still no help from EE. Still no one at EE can be **bleep**d to tell me what is going on. I am wondering if anyone else has suffered this and what they did to fix it. I also expect some employee of EE to read this and get off their **bleep** and fix this or at least tell me what is going on. Right now, I have lost my old number and that means access to everything registered with the old number for 2-step security so that means all my banks, shopping, email and other online accounts. I want this fixed within 24 hours or I will cancel the contract and start a complaint with the Ombudsman. How the hell I will get into my accounts to change the registered phone number now Smarty has stopped working I do not know. I am so angry. I better stop now before I type something I regret. HELP ME!!!

Re: Old Number NOT Ported - Zero help from EE

James_B — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 15:35:56 GMT

Hi @mehere,

Welcome to the EE Community.

I'm sorry to hear there has been an issue with your number transfer.

Did your old network give any details of what's gone wrong in their email?

James

Re: Old Number NOT Ported - Zero help from EE

mehere — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 15:41:41 GMT

Hi James

Thanks for getting back to me. Smarty email just said 'We're afraid there has been a technical issue porting your number. Please get in touch ...' Time 1:02pm this afternoon. This was after I used their live chat to say EE had rejected the PAC as invalid. I went back to Smarty to get new info and help but live chat was down and all I had was an email address to a bot. So I have no idea what the issue is. I might get more info if live chat is available again tomorrow. After the email, my Smarty SIM no longer has a number but shows as 'unknown' but it still links to the 3 netwrok and I have received SMS on it.

I have had no contact with anyone from EE and have no idea what they think is going on.

I am too ill for this sort of stress.

Re: Old Number NOT Ported - Zero help from EE

James_B — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 15:45:42 GMT

Hi @mehere,

While you are waiting to get in touch with your old network to see the what the next steps are, I'd recommend chatting to EE Customer Care online at ee.co.uk/contact-ee. They'll be happy to see if there is anything they can do to help from their end. If the port has already started, they may be able to liaise with your old network on your behalf.

James

Re: Old Number NOT Ported - Zero help from EE

mehere — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 16:07:16 GMT

James, I am disabled and cannot talk. I cannot 'chat with customer services' as you suggest. I cannot use a telephone. And the special disabled-access software Relay developed by BT to automate services to help customers like me does not work because no human picks up the ringing phone at EE. I have done all I can. EE has to make some effort too.

I have been trying to fix this, trying to find ways to reset my registered phone number on all my accounts when I need the old phone number to verify my identity for almost eight hours. I am exhausted. I will try again tomorrow.

But I bitterly regret switching to EE. Data connection speeds are very nice but it takes more than that to make a phone service that meets all a customer's needs.

If I could switch back to Smarty and its lousy 3.5mbps download speeds, I would. At least it gave me access to my bank, utilities, shopping and similar accounts without worrying I would be locked out as I no longer have access to my old phone number.

Tomorrow is another day. I will see what happens then.

Re: Old Number NOT Ported - Zero help from EE

James_B — Tue, 14 Jun 2022 16:17:58 GMT

Hi @mehere,

We offer a text based online chat service at ee.co.uk/contact-ee. Sorry if I didn't make that clear in my last post.

They'll be more than happy to look into this for you.

James

Re: Old Number NOT Ported - Zero help from EE

mehere — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 08:04:38 GMT

Replying to myself.

No one at EE tried to contact me by SMS or email. Did they try phoning for a voice call? No idea. But my phone rejects boice calls as I am mute so they are useless to me. I may as well live in outer space for all the help I have received.

Good news is that EE finally ported my number today. It took them three days whereas all other services I have used in past took about 15 minutes. EE charges premium price for a lousy service.

Bad news is that my old Smarty account no longer works. Only my EE sim works now. Should be good news but as a mute person I rely on SMS and the SMS service on EE does not work. I rely on 2-step verification. I have this for email - Protonmail (Switzerland), Hushmail (Canada), my cloud service Mega (New Zealand), online shopping eBay (USA) and many other essential services. No email from outside UK reaches my handset with the EE sim. They were received without problem on my Smarty SIM. Curiously, if I send an SMS from my GiffGaff sim in my tablet to my EE sim in my phone the message does get through.

What is the problem? When will it be fixed? No idea as I have no help whatsoever from EE. They do not respond to these messages on this forum. Their website points to live chat which is never active or tells disabled people to use the Relay app to call for help but no one ever answers the call. Customer care with Smarty includes live chat. GiffGaff has a user forum but also actual customer care people who respond to messages. Smarty and GiffGaff cost about 66% less than EE but provide much much better customer care. What does EE spend tge extra money on? Clearly it is not on reliable technology or sms would work on my phone. And clearly not customer care or they woukd obey UK law and provide accessible help for disabled customers. So does tge CEO just pocket the money in massive pay and bonuses? Does EE just ship our extra money overseas to a tax haven? Who knows? All I know is that BT/EE is the worst utility service I have experienced in years. And I regret becoming an EE customer. I will report this to the Ombudsman but that will change nothing. And meanwhile, I have no reliable communications.

Angry? Nope, does not begin to describe my feelings.

Re: Old Number NOT Ported - Zero help from EE

James_B — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 08:09:01 GMT

Hi @mehere,

I'm sorry to hear you've had trouble starting a live chat. What happens when you tap the 'Start conversation' button at ee.co.uk/contact-ee/account-billing/mobile?

James

Re: Old Number NOT Ported - Zero help from EE

mehere — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 08:52:35 GMT

Hi James

Nothing happens when I tap 'start chat'.

I am using Samsung tablet running Android 11 and most recent Vivaldi browser. Ditto but Android 12 on my Samsung phone. Same thing happens if I use my linux laptop and Vivaldi browser. I use Vivaldi because it saves and auto-fills login/passwords for me.

That said, EE website frequently bounces me out and requires me to log in and verify myself repeatedly. Yesterday, for first time in using Vivaldi (which I have done for at least five years) all attempts to access EE website even via a search engine link not my browser bookmarks generated a blank page and a message "BLOCKED".

I turned off ad-blockers and vpn but still the same glitches. If chat works on other platforms, it does not work on mine. Please note most customised disabled access software runs on linux not Windows, Apple, Android or other propriatory operating systems. If EE means to help disabled people it has to run its services on the platforms we use.

Re: Old Number NOT Ported - Zero help from EE

James_B — Wed, 15 Jun 2022 09:04:16 GMT

Hi @mehere,

Our live chat function should work on all web browsers and operating systems. When pressing the start conversation button, the chat dialog box should open in a new window. Do you have your browsers set to block pop ups?

James

Re: Old Number NOT Ported - Zero help from EE

mehere — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 10:05:33 GMT

EE spent 3 days messing me around. During which first they did not port my old number and then after porting I had no reliable SMS which I need for ALL communication. Therefore, I spent those days changing every account and contact to use another number so I could contact social worker, doctor, bank, email etc. I find this difficult. I am exhausted.

During the three days I discovered they had no support for disabled people or support so inefficient that it caused more problems than it solved. For example, I was directed to register as a disabled customer on the website. After completing the form I was bounced to a 'page not found' message and assumed the form had malfunctioned. Sometime later I received an email 'you are registered as disabled user' and then the next day an sms from EE saying the same. Mixed messages. Which do I believe? Although now 'registered' it has made no difference to the service I get since this forum remains my only form of communication with EE. And even that is unreliable. When my problem went from 'number not ported' to 'no sms'

Yesterday, I decided that (1) I could not trust EE technology - nothing works as it should, it eventually works but I cannot wait days for vital services (2) Despite a display of helping disabled people nothing actually works, or if it works it makes zero difference to my experience - what is the point of being 'registered' or using the live chat that is never live or the relay app that no one at EE ever answers? (3) EE is £37 pcm, more than all other services I have used. I like 5G speeds but nothing else about EE. It is not worth the money.

My decision: I have tried EE for three stressful days and it is not good enough. I want to cancel my contract. I am not asking for a PAC number because I cannot go through this stress again. Just cancel the contract. email confirmation. I have removed the EE sim from my phone so do not try to use it. Confirm today. Thanks to those who tried to help but your solo efforts cannot fix a bad corporate culture.

Re: Old Number NOT Ported - Zero help from EE

James_B — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 10:16:33 GMT

Hi @mehere,

I understand your frustration around the problems you have experienced with contacting customer care. We’re committed to providing all our customers with the best service possible and we'd love to try to resolve the issues you have experienced.

Please can you provide me with the URL of the page where you were served the 'page not found' error message so I can report it?

Did you see my earlier message about checking to see if pop ups are allowed on your browser? If you aren't seeing the live chat dialog box, this could be the issue.

James

Re: Old Number NOT Ported - Zero help from EE

mehere — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 10:42:28 GMT

I am disabled, house-bound, mute. I tried EE but it is unable to meet my needs as a disabled person. I cannot find any accessible customer care except this forum.

I need to know how to cancel the contract within the 14 day period. I cannot call 150. None of the disabled access options (live chat, relay) actually work. In the envelope with my sim was a sheet which said write to Darlington. Question: when I write what info do I put in the letter and do I include the sim?

Thanks for helping.

Re: Old Number NOT Ported - Zero help from EE

mehere — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 11:06:56 GMT

Hi James

Thanks for trying to help but all I need now is help to cancel the EE contract.

URL generating 'page not found' includes

1) ee.co.uk/terms -- printed leaflet sent with sim is out of date. Wrong url redirects to 'page not found' or "BLOCKED" but on repeated attempts, resetting browser, emptying cache etc, I did eventually and with great difficulty get to https://ee.co.uk/help/help-new/managing-and-using-my-account/leaving-ee/how-do-i-cancel-my-contract-with-ee-if-ive-had-it-less-than-14-days. That gave me a pdf form to complete and return to either channel.returns@ee.co.uk or

Channel Returns

Mercia House

Senhouse Road

Darlington DL1 4YB

2) Registering as disabled user - I took a screenshot so its a jpg but what is visible is:

ee.co.uk/our-company/corporate-responsibility/sharing-connectivity/digital-living/digital-for-all/tailored-disability-se (rest of url not caught by screenshot, sorry).

Removing 'pop-up blocker' made no difference. Still no visible 'button' to start live chat just a claim it is available 8:30am til 10pm and a link will appear shortly. Been waiting three days and no link. Been trying to ring EE using Relay for three days and no one answers.

Disabled access at EE is just a gimmick not a real service. Looking at the above urls and the convoluted boxes inside boxes its obvious to me that 'corporate organisation' is the structural problem, plus lack of investment, plus bias.

My decision to cancel my EE contract looks wiser every minute.

I am now going to fill out the form and get closure on this nightmare.

Re: Old Number NOT Ported - Zero help from EE

Chris_B — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 12:18:26 GMT

I’m more surprised that a number port as mentioned has been done is 15 mins when this isn’t actually possible on any network.

Re: Old Number NOT Ported - Zero help from EE

bristolian — Thu, 16 Jun 2022 20:35:33 GMT

Be aware that cancelling your EE contract under 14days will serve to disconnect your number.

It'll be released back to the issuing network operator and will no longer be yours.